Defective by Design - kindlehttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/topic/kindle
enAmazon Kindle extinguishes the fire of learninghttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/kindle-fire
<div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/kindle">kindle</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/435">kindlefire</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/436">kindle-3g</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/437">kindle-fire</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/438">whispernet</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/439">bezos</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Amazon came out with their newest line of Kindle ebook readers today,
including the appropriately named "Kindle Fire".</p>
<p>To quote their TV commercial: "The instruction we find in books is
like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home,
communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all." </p>
<p>This device does not kindle that fire -- it extinguishes it, with more of the same digital restrictions.</p>
<p>Let's look at the facts:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Amazon claims you have no right to sell or share the books you buy. They advertise a "lending" feature which, at best, allows you to lend a book one time <em>ever</em>, to one person, who must also be a Kindle user. You don't get to make the decision about whether you can lend a book or not -- the publisher and Amazon do. That's not sharing.</p></li>
<li><p>In fact, when people tried to cooperate to make large-scale use of the lending function, Amazon shut them down. The most prominent example of this was the web site Lendle, which is back up now, albeit with fewer features, including a feature which made it easy to lend the books you have without typing in all the titles -- a move forced on them by Amazon to discourage sharing.</p></li>
<li><p>The power exerted over its users, arbitrarily blocking lending of books and <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/amazon1984">remotely removing books</a>, is unacceptable even if they later change their minds or promise to stop doing it.</p></li>
<li><p>Amazon is working its way into public libraries and schools now, subverting the functioning of the very places they, in the above quote, claim to support.</p></li>
<li><p>Via the wireless connectivity of these devices, Amazon can hold data about everything you read. </p></li>
<li><p>Also via the connectivity, Amazon can delete books from Kindles. They have already done this multiple times. They say they won't do it anymore, but they make users sign an agreement which still gives them the authority to. They have demonstrated only reasons to doubt their word.</p></li>
<li><p>Although it is possible to use the Kindle for DRM-free materials, that is not the system that Amazon is promoting or working most actively toward. Funding Amazon's work in this area, even if you use it differently, is supporting their moves at limiting sharing and access to books.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The result: More of the same: A major threat to the shareability -- like fire -- that has enabled human culture and knowledge to advance.</strong></p>
<h3>Take action!</h3>
<ul><li>Send a message to Amazon's Kindle Team via Twitter -- @amazonkindle -- be wary of using Twitter directly, as it uses proprietary JavaScript. Using your Twitter account via <a href="http://identi.ca/">identi.ca</a> is a good choice.</li>
<li>Contact Amazon customer services: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/kindle-help.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200127470&type=email&mode=&skip=true">Chat, phone and email support here</a> and ask them to drop DRM from the Kindle.</li></ul></div></div></div>Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:59:34 +0000Matt Lee2203 at http://www.defectivebydesign.orgDRM In (and Out) of Schoolshttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/drm-in-and-out-of-schools
<div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/10">drm</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/20">apple</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/kindle">kindle</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/364">ipad</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">
<p>Kindles and iPads are making their way into classrooms across the world. Schools like <a href="http://www.setonhill.edu/techadvantage/">Seton Hill</a> and <a href="http://www.georgefox.edu/featured_stories/iPad-MacBook.html">George Fox</a> are giving iPads to incoming students. <a href="http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_14904063">Monte Vista Christian School</a>, in California, has sixty of them that are now in the hands of advanced placement students. <a href="http://www.nujournal.com/page/content.detail/id/512977.html">Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop High School</a> in Minnesota ordered 320 for their students in April of this year. Dr. Joseph Kim of <a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/04/ipad-mandatory-medical-school.html">KevinMD.com</a> calls for making iPads mandatory for medical school students. <a href="http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2010/august/ipad.html">Stanford University</a> seems excited about the idea and gave them out to first year medical students this year. <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/clearwater-high-students-get-their-kindles/1121944"> Clearwater High School</a> in Florida gave all 2000 of their students Kindles at the start of the 2010-2011 academic year. <a href="http://blog.worldreader.org//">WorldReader.Org</a>, a non-profit founded by an Amazon executive, did a pilot program for e-book readers in schools in Ghana with Kindles. Some people are excited about the use of these new technologies in classrooms.</p>
<p>But not everyone.</p>
<p>There are two major reasons why Kindles and iPads have no place in schools, both of which are related to DRM (Digital Restrictions Management).</p>
<ul>
<li>1. DRM prevents learning. It's the information that is a resource. The access to this information is provided by tools. DRM actually makes it <em>illegal</em> for students to keep learning past a certain point, by preventing them from looking closely at how the devices work or from making their own methods for accessing, using, and sharing the information.</li>
<li> 2.DRM is, in the words of a guy I almost knew, “jus' morally wrong.” Forcing DRM on people, even more so.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the summer of 2009, copies of “1984” and “Animal Farm,” both by George Orwell, disappeared from Kindles across America. MobileReference, the digital publisher who had been selling these ebooks, did not have the rights to them. When this came out, Amazon deleted the books off Kindles. Other Kindle owners complain of similar deletions surrounding various editions of other books, including Harry Potter. The biggest problem with this is most clearly demonstrated in a New York Times' article:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Justin Gawronski, a 17-year-old from the Detroit area, was reading
“1984” on his Kindle for a summer assignment and lost all his notes
and annotations when the file vanished. “They didn’t just take a
book back, they stole my work,” he said.[1]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The text of “1984” itself was what he needed for his assignment and that text, his resource, was taken away by his tool. In losing his copy of “1984,” Mr. Gawronski did not just lose a copy: he lost his experience of the book and his own work related to it.</p>
<p>The fundamental problem with DRM from a user standpoint is having mediated access to the text. When you own a book, you own your copy of the book. You can read it for any purpose. You can read to learn, to share an experience with others, to have fun. You can study how the book works and change it. You can comment in the margins, highlight and underline sections. In theory, you can cut the book up, rearrange the parts. You can lend it to your friends. If someone comes into your house to take it without your permission, it's called “being robbed.” When you own an ebook with DRM, you have none of these freedoms. Maybe you can use your ebook reader to make comments and highlight sections, but that book can be deleted without anyone even coming into your house. This is not to say that real books are the only way and that ebook readers are bad—this is to say that how they are being managed with DRM-laden books is. </p>
<p>DRM is not an educational resource or tool. It is a restriction that inhibits people's access to resources. Which, in part, is why DRM is “jus' morally wrong.”</p>
<p>When schools give students iPads and Kindles, they are forcing an opinion on their students. They are taking away their students' right to make a decision—a decision with ethical consequences. I won't call it tantamount to making vegetarians eat meat, or forcing people to pray to gods that are not their own, but forcing someone not just to use a DRM system, but to support a DRM system, is removing access to their own freedoms. These are not just the freedoms of choice, they are freedoms of use, freedoms of study, freedoms of sharing, and freedoms of ownership. </p>
<p>Ebook readers and tablet computers might be excellent educational tools. We should be using them in schools. However, we need to be using ones that respect students' freedom. People need to be able to have access to their work, to own not just what they produce in school, but their own experiences of education. </p>
<hr />
<p>For a more complete list, check out <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Defective_by_Design/Schools">LibrePlanet's list</a> and please add to it. To get a full account of why DRM is wrong, check out other articles on <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/">Defective by Design</a>. Or <a href="mailto:campaigns-interns@fsf.org">drop me a line</a>. I'd be glad to talk about it more. </p>
<p>[1] Stone, B. “Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle Devices.” The New York Times. 17, July, 2009. </p> </div></div></div>Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:26:12 +0000mollydb1333 at http://www.defectivebydesign.orgUpdate: hundreds of 1-star reviews added to Kindle page!http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1249
<div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/ebook">ebook</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/kindle">kindle</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/swindle">swindle</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/reviews">reviews</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/1star">1star</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/tagging">tagging</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><b> Update: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologizes</b> - see our <a href="http://www.fsf.org/news/amazon-apologizes">press release</a>, and Digg <a href="http://digg.com/gadgets/FSF_welcomes_Amazon_apology_but_asks_them_to_free_the_Kindle">this news</a>
</p>
<p>This week's Kindle action is going great; together we've generated hundreds of 1-star reviews and tags. </p>
<p>Then there was a <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2223214/">great article in Slate</a> by Farhad Manjoo, Amazon's top "expert reviewer" on the Kindle's product page, retracting his recommendation. This would be a perfect article to share with friends and co-workers, to introduce them to the problem of DRM (diggable <a href="http://digg.com/d3y1yn">here</a>).</p>
<p>If you haven't written a review yet, here are direct links to the review forms. Take a few minutes to explain to potential Kindle buyers why they shouldn't get one: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=cm_cr_dp_wr_but_right?ie=UTF8&nodeID=370783011&asin=B00154JDAI&store=fiona-hardware">6" Kindle</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=cm_cr_dp_wr_but_right?ie=UTF8&nodeID=370783011&asin=B0015TCML0&store=fiona-hardware">Kindle DX</a>.
<p>If your review wasn't published by Amazon, definitely let us know. We'll be busy picking our next product to target (if you have any suggestions, email us at info@defectivebydesign.org). In the meantime, we thought we'd share some of our favorite reviews below. Awesome job, everyone.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>
"I had Kindle in my basket, ready to hit the purchase button. As an avid reader, I thought long and hard about going digital.... However, when the news broke that amazon deleted 1984 from owners' devices, my blood curdled. How stunningly and ironically 1984ish."
<br />___<br />
"Amazon has created a book licensing service, not a book selling service. I'm disgusted by the idea that not only can I not share books with friends, but I can't even depend on having them myself."
<br />___<br />
"Nice! Not only can you pay an insanely expensive amount for a book reader, Amazon can delete the books you buy too! Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it?"
<br />___<br />
"I absolutely love the idea of having a library of books with me wherever I go. I love the choice of reading whatever book wherever I want, whenever I want and not have to search out a bookstore to purchase a book. Amazon provides this service very well. The problem with the Kindle is its restriction on user freedom. When I 'purchase' and ebook from Amazon, I do not own the book in the same way I own a physical book. I am not free to read it wherever I want (on any device I choose) nor can I give it away, share it with my friends, donate it or sell it. The user is entirely at the mercy of the distributor."
<br />___<br />
"The technology itself is great. If it weren't for the the proprietary format of the eBooks and the DRM I would definitely get one. Those are killer defects for me, enough to cripple all the advantages of the technology. I want to have as much control over my eBooks as I want over my paper ones."
</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:37:36 +0000holmesworcester1249 at http://www.defectivebydesign.orgDouble-plus ungood: give Amazon's Kindle a 1-star reviewhttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1248
<div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/10">drm</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/kindle">kindle</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/swindle">swindle</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/1984">1984</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/reviews">reviews</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/1star">1star</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/tagging">tagging</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><a href="http://digg.com/gadgets/Tell_Kindle_buyers_Amazon_can_delete_your_books">Digg this!</a>
<p>We are not joking. Late last week, Amazon deleted purchased copies of George Orwell's <em>1984</em> and <em>Animal Farm</em> from the ebook readers of hundreds of users. <em>New York Times</em> tech writer David Pogue <a href="http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/some-e-books-are-more-equal-than-others/">summarizes it best</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned .... </p>
<p>You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony? The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were '1984' and 'Animal Farm.'</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We're relaunching our "defective by design" tagging campaign, and we couldn't have asked for a better occasion or a better target. <b>Here's what you can do:</b></p>
<p>1. Go to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Generation/dp/B00154JDAI/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t">Kindle Amazon page</a>.</p>
<p>2. Give the Kindle a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=cm_cr_dp_wr_but_right?ie=UTF8&nodeID=370783011&asin=B00154JDAI&store=fiona-hardware">quick but thoughtful 1-star review</a>.</p>
<p>3, <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/node/1096">Tag it</a> "defectivebydesign", "kindle swindle", and "1984".</p>
<p>4. Do the same thing for the pricier version, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Amazons-Wireless-Generation/dp/B0015TCML0/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t">Kindle DX.</a></p>
<p>5. <a href="http://digg.com/gadgets/Tell_Kindle_buyers_Amazon_can_delete_your_books">Digg this article!</A>
<p>6. Bonus: send a message to publishers by tagging Kindle books. Here are the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Books-Kindle/b?ie=UTF8&amp;node=154606011">top selling books for Kindle</a>.</p>
<p><b>And here are some talking points you might use in your review:</b></p>
<p>
1. When you buy a Kindle, Amazon controls it, not you. They can enter into your Kindle and delete your books at any time.</p>
<p>2. They recently deleted hundreds of readers' copies of <em>1984</em> without their permission (I'm not joking, Google "Amazon 1984").</p>
<p>3. Amazon's software allows them not only to delete books at any time, but also to cripple them -- as they did recently when they disabled the "read aloud" Text to Speech feature on already purchased titles.</p>
<p>4. Amazon refuses to clarify what exactly their DRM system can do, or how they will or won't use it. Deceptive advertising practices like this are currently being looked into by the Federal Trade Commission. Notice that there is no mention or warning of DRM on the Kindle page.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?_r=1&amp;scp=2&amp;sq=kindle&amp;st=cse">New York Times article</a> quoted a student who lost his notes and annotations when the book was deleted: "'They didn’t just take a book back, they stole my work,' he said."</p>
<!-break-->
<p>We've campaigned against the Kindle before, and it's having an impact. Check out <a href="http://www.startribune.com/opinion/42294512.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ">this op-ed</a> in the Minneapolis / St. Paul Star Tribune by a columnist who noticed our campaign. He still bought the Swindle, but his article shows that the tags and reviews give shoppers significant pause. </p>
<p>The story caught fire over the weekend and was on the <em>Times'</em> "most emailed" list. Even people who don't know what DRM means appreciate the irony; they understand that there's something fundamentally wrong with technology that works this way. This is a perfect story to spread, and a perfect moment to target the Kindle for 1-star reviews.</p>
<p>Over the coming weeks, Sarah, Matt, John and I will be selecting more DRM-infected products for the tags and the 1-star reviews they deserve. We're looking for hot new products, or products that make particularly appalling use of DRM. If you'd like to suggest one, email us at <a href="mailto:info@defectivebydesign.org">&#105;&#x6E;&#x66;&#x6F;&#64;&#100;&#101;&#x66;&#101;&#x63;&#116;&#105;v&#101;&#x62;&#x79;&#100;&#101;&#x73;&#x69;&#x67;&#x6E;&#x2E;&#x6F;rg</a>.</p></div></div></div>Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:34:52 +0000holmesworcester1248 at http://www.defectivebydesign.orgImpeach Bezos for Amazon's Kindle Swindlehttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1241
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</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/10">drm</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/kindle">kindle</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/swindle">swindle</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>
<a style="font-size:large;" href="http://digg.com/gadgets/Impeach_Bezos_for_Amazon_s_Kindle_Swindle"><strong>Digg this story!</strong></a>
</p>
<p><img style="float:right;padding-left:1em;padding-bottom:1em;" src="http://static.fsf.org/fsforg/img/peaches.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Ian's <a href="http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44350&amp;highlight=amazon+banning">story of being banned from
Amazon</a> for returning too many things
reminds me of a <a href="http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheMango.html">Seinfeld
episode</a>, where Kramer gets
banned from Joe's Fruit Market -- the best fruit market in town -- when he
tries to return a sub par peach.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>(Kramer spits out his peach)</em> <br />
<strong>JERRY:</strong> Bad peach? <br />
<strong>KRAMER:</strong> It's terrible! <br />
<strong>JERRY:</strong> Did you get that at Joe's? <br />
<strong>KRAMER:</strong> Yeah, of course I got it at Joe's. <br />
<strong>JERRY:</strong> That's surprising, his fruit is usually the best. <br />
<strong>KRAMER:</strong> You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna return this. <br />
<strong>JERRY:</strong> You're returning used fruit? <br />
<strong>KRAMER:</strong> Jerry, this peach is sub par. </p>
<p><em>[at Joe's]</em> <br />
<strong>JOE:</strong> Hey, you got a bad peach? That's an act of God. He makes the peaches. I don't make the peaches, I sell the peaches. You have a problem? You talk to him. <br />
<strong>KRAMER:</strong> You know this whole place is going vrrrrrrrrrrrrt, downhill. I could have come in here last week with a bad plum but I let it go. <br />
<strong>JOE:</strong> Well let me put a solution for you: do your business elsewhere, I don't want your business. <br />
<strong>KRAMER:</strong> Oh now you don't want my business. <br />
<strong>JOE:</strong> No, I don't want your business and from this moment you're banned from the store, you're banned! <br />
<strong>KRAMER:</strong> But what am I gonna do for fruit? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Because in their eyes, Ian had returned one too many Amazon products, they sent
him a message ala Joe:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. The
rate at which such problems have occurred on your account is extraordinary,
however, and cannot continue. Effective immediately, your Amazon.com account
is closed and you are no longer able to shop in our store.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And this is not the first time <a href="http://consumerist.com/5044959/amazon-closes-accounts-en-masse">Amazon has banned
users</a>.</p>
<p>Without an Amazon account, users like Ian can't access their Kindle books
online. The DRM infecting their local copies of those ebooks prevents them from
moving the books to another device they might actually be able to use without being
forced to depend on an arbitrary and temperamental owner. Since they don't get
warning before being banned, they may not even have all of the books they have
purchased in the past downloaded to their local device, and being banned means
they can't access anything stored under their Amazon account.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200144530">Kindle terms of
service</a>
warn that they may arbitrarily choose to do this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Changes to Service. Amazon reserves the right to modify, suspend, or
discontinue the Service at any time, and Amazon will not be liable to you
should it exercise such right.</p>
<p>Termination. Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate
without notice from Amazon if you fail to comply with any term of this
Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the
Software and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Service or to
Digital Content without notice to you and without refund of any fees.
Amazon's failure to insist upon or enforce your strict compliance with this
Agreement will not constitute a waiver of any of its rights.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has said in the past, "Our vision is every book, ever
printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds" -- but like a
fortune cookie, to understand what he really means here you need to add
"exclusively controlled by us" to the end of the quote.</p>
<p>After extensive argument, Amazon did decide to give Ian one more chance, and
restored his account, but this is nonetheless a warning of the way DRM can be
used to control users. Whether it's right for them to be banning people for
returning too many things or not, it isn't right for them to have this much
control over what and how people can and can't read.</p>
<h2>Take Action</h2>
<p>
<a style="font-size:large;" href="http://digg.com/gadgets/Impeach_Bezos_for_Amazon_s_Kindle_Swindle"><strong>Digg this story!</strong></a>
</p>
<p>DRM is rotten and needs to go. So, taking inspiration from Kramer and Joe, this
morning we decided to send Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos some peaches, from Defective By
Design. Turns out fresh peaches of the kind Joe would be proud of aren't in
season until May, so we looked for the next best thing appropriate for someone
whose company throws frequent temper tantrums to try and control what other people do -- <a href="http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=161831&amp;catid=104868">peach baby
food</a>.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/sites/defectivebydesign.org/files/015000071301.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>We hope he gets the message that he's swindling his customers and in the process
undermining important fundamental freedoms to read and share. Amazon seems to
understand this message when it comes to music -- why don't they get it when it
comes to the Kindle?</p>
<ul>
<li>You can help us "impeach" Bezos by <a href="http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=161831&amp;catid=104868">sending him some more
peaches</a>. Don't forget to include a gift note with it linking back to DefectiveByDesign.org, and be sure to let us know too, at <a href="mailto:info@defectivebydesign.org">&#x69;&#x6E;&#102;o&#64;&#x64;&#101;fe&#99;&#116;&#x69;&#x76;&#101;&#x62;&#x79;&#100;&#x65;&#115;&#105;&#x67;&#x6E;&#46;&#111;&#x72;&#103;</a>.</li>
<li>Of course, if you have a Kindle, you might want to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200144510&amp;#kindle">return that
too</a>.</li>
</ul>
<address>
Jeff Bezos, CEO <br />
Amazon.com <br />
1200 12TH AVENUE S SUITE 1200 <br />
SEATTLE, WA <br />
98144
</address>
<p><em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookies/540198316/">Peaches picture</a> used under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 2.0 license</a>.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/oreilly/6629316/">Jeff Bezos (as used on the baby food) by O'Reilly (not on baby food)</a></p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:45:39 +0000John Sullivan1241 at http://www.defectivebydesign.orgJoin Amazon authors' "drmfree" efforthttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1240
<div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/10">drm</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/ebooks">ebooks</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/kindle">kindle</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>DefectiveByDesign activists have been tireless in finding and labeling
DRM-infected products on Amazon with tags like "defectivebydesign" and "drm".</p>
<p>There's another new tag to watch for when you're shopping, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/tagging/items-tagged-with?ie=UTF8&amp;flatten=1&amp;tag=drmfree&amp;search=1">"drmfree"</a>. The use of the tag is obvious but the <a href="http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/11/drmfree-tag-campaign-starts-on-amazon-help-identify-safer-to-own-books-and-other-items/">story behind it</a> is important -- it's being applied and promoted by <em>authors</em> who want to advertise the fact that they don't like Digital Restrictions Management and don't want it applied to their works. </p>
<p>Because of the loud voices of a few, the media tends to forget that plenty of artists and creators oppose DRM. This is a good reminder of that.</p>
<p>As always, there are other things to watch for within the items tagged "drmfree", like whether a computer game is proprietary software or free software. But finding and labeling books and games that are not restricted by DRM is still an important way to help people make informed decisions about what they're actually supporting.</p>
<p>Please join these authors in their tagging effort. In addition to calling out products that are defective by design, we'll continue collecting and adding DRM-free resources to our <a href="http://defectivebydesign.org/guide">Guide</a>, so keep sending those suggestions to <a href="mailto:info@defectivebydesign.org">i&#x6E;&#102;&#x6F;&#64;d&#101;&#102;&#x65;&#99;&#116;&#x69;ve&#98;&#x79;&#x64;&#x65;s&#105;&#x67;&#110;.&#111;&#114;&#103;</a>.</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:55:32 +0000John Sullivan1240 at http://www.defectivebydesign.orgThe Kindle Swindlehttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1097
<div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/10">drm</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/ebooks">ebooks</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/kindle">kindle</a></div><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/swindle">swindle</a></div></div></div><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><img src="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/sites/nodrm.civicactions.net/files/images/bezos-small.jpg"/><br/><span>Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com - <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/oreilly/6629316/">Photo by O'Reilly at Flickr</a></span>
<p>
<script type="text/javascript">
digg_url = 'http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1097';
</script>
<script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
</a>.
<a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/node/1096">Tag the Kindle and Kindle ebooks on Amazon</a>.</p>
<p>The Amazon kindle provides convenience, but at the cost of freedom. When you purchase a kindle, you must agree to use the Digital Restriction Management (DRM) system. Since all of the Kindle ebooks you purchase from Amazon are in their proprietary DRM format, you are also promising to not share them with friends. And, because you promise to not circumvent the DRM, there is no way to move them to another device or a computer. You are locked into the Kindle and you are locked into Amazon. If you try to move them to a new ebook reader or a computer, Amazon can end your service and remove access to the books you have already purchased.</p>
<p>It seems that Amazon only cares to oppose DRM when they can profit from it, such as when they advertise their MP3's as "Play Anywhere, DRM-Free Downloads." The same is not true for Kindle ebooks. Perhaps if they were honest they would advertise their ebooks as "Play Only Here, DRM-Laden Kindle Ebooks." </p>
<p>
Many people will accept the restrictions that come with the Kindle, but, they should know that their decision won't only effect just themselves. If enough people accept the DRM on ebooks, there will be no incentive in the future for Amazon, or anybody else to offer non-DRM ebooks. We are threatened by the market establishing a new cultural precedence in which books become bound to our devices, unable to be shared, and unable to be moved over to a new device or competing system. We must reject DRM on ebooks and we must reject the Kindle. Please help us in letting people know that the Kindle it is nothing more than a swindle.
</p>
<p>Mark Pilgrim, author of <em>Dive into Python</em>, paints a lucid picture of the <a href="http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading"><em>Future of Reading</em></a> through a series of quotations. It starts out with one from the CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos (see image above), from an open letter he wrote to the Author's Guild in 2002:</p>
<blockquote>When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.
</blockquote>
<p>This is juxtaposed next to the Kindle's Term of Service, which states, </p>
<blockquote>You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.</blockquote>
<p>And Mark finishes his "Play" with the termination clause in the Kindle Terms of Service that states:</p>
<blockquote>Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate without notice from Amazon if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the Software and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Service or to Digital Content without notice to you and without refund of any fees.</blockquote>
<p>
When you agree to this Terms of Service, you are locked in to the Kindle, and you must promise to never try to escape. This is why we have decided to rename the Kindle, the Swindle, and we invite you all to <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/node/1096">join us in tagging the Kindle</a> and all of the the Kindle ebooks on Amazon.com with the phrase "Kindle Swindle." </p></div></div></div>Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:36:58 +0000Joshua Gay1097 at http://www.defectivebydesign.org